On Wednesday, 8th June 1870, Charles Dickens was working on his novel, Edwin Drood, in the garden of his country house near Rochester, Kent, when he suffered a stroke.

Modern Christmas celebrations owe a lot to an English novella written more than 170 years ago: Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. This story of redemption has touched the hearts of millions of readers around the world. It has helped to redefine what we mean by the Christmas spirit.

Christmas-themed events and decorations are being prepared in the museum dedicated to the British novelist